Meanwhile its board announced a $332m dividend in early March. “What is utterly shameful is P&O have been kept afloat by our members and the taxpayer whilst their owners have been paying out hundreds of millions in dividends in Dubai,” said Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT union, which represents seafarers.

He called the job losses an “appalling betrayal” of the workforce who had maintained key supply lines during the pandemic. He said the union feared the jobs would not return to the UK, and British seafarers would be replaced with much lower-paid workers from overseas.

But a source told Yahoo Finance UK the dividend payment had been agreed before COVID-19 hit, and was unavoidable as part of a deal with shareholders over the de-listing of the company.

P&O Ferries has warned the pandemic is one of the toughest peacetime challenges in its 180-year history. Before the crisis hit, its ships made around 27,000 journeys a year between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Holland and Belgium.

A spokesperson for P&O Ferries told Yahoo Finance UK: "Since the beginning of the crisis, P&O Ferries has been working with its stakeholders to address the impact of the loss of the passenger business.

“It is now clear that right-sizing the business is necessary to create a viable and sustainable P&O Ferries to get through COVID-19.

“Regrettably, therefore, due to the reduced number of vessels we are operating and the ongoing downturn in business we are beginning consultation proceedings with a proposal to make around 1,100 of our colleagues redundant.”

Labour’s shadow maritime minister Mike Kane also said the decision was “disappointing” given the dividend payments in Dubai and furlough payments from the UK government.

“Any further taxpayer support must be contingent on protecting UK jobs and these lifeline routes.”

He added: “This is a real blow to British seafarers and there is now a real fear that these jobs will never return to Dover or Hull.”